Lincoln shelter isn’t best option for Hodgdon

To the editor:
    Last night (4/6), I felt as if I stepped back in time, back into a regressive society where fundamental respect of another living creature was non-existent, where money meant more than life, where hardship and death were shrugged off as inconsequential by the powers-that-be. Was it a nightmare? No, it was the Hodgdon town meeting.
    I attended the meeting as a guest without voting privileges in support of the Houlton Humane Society. This year, after many years without increasing its contract rates, HHS found itself facing an ever-increasing budget — as have all organizations and businesses throughout our country — and asked for a $2 per capita increase from the 26 towns and territories serviced by the Shelter. Many towns were up in arms about this less than one-penny-a-day increase and decided to look for other alternatives. The only alternative turned out to be the Penobscot Valley Humane Society 65 miles away in Lincoln. Their fee is only $450. flat. Why? Because they do none of the pro-life activities to which the staff and volunteers of HHS dedicate themselves. No fostering, no adoption drives, no fundraisers, no working tirelessly to find a home for every healthy, treatable, adoptable pet that comes into HHS care. The Lincoln shelter does none of that. They do not even join the 13,000 shelters nationwide on Petfinder.com which has over 197 million views this year to-date which proves that people look for pets constantly. The Lincoln shelter keeps animals for X number of days then kills them. I can’t put it any clearer. And this is the shelter the town of Hodgdon has decided to use from now on.
    And when I stood up at the Hodgdon meeting and asked Mr. Griffin, the town manager, if he was OK with Lincoln killing healthy pets, he looked me in the eye and said, assuredly: Yes, I’m OK with that.
    When I asked Mr. Griffin about the hardship some of his townspeople might face having to travel 65 miles (130 roundtrip) to reclaim their pet — as opposed to HHS being 10 miles away–his off-subject response was: If they have tags on, he will try to get them home.
    In fact, Mr. Griffin stated he’s already kept at-large animals in the town office for several days, which is against Maine sheltering laws.
    I asked Mr. Griffin what would happen if a loose dog got hit by a car. Up until last night, if that happened, the dog would be turned over to HHS, become their responsibility and get vet care and would eventually be put up for adoption. Mr. Griffin’s response was: He would hold it at the office until Royce (Quint, the animal control officer) could take it down to Lincoln. Aside from that action being against Maine’s animal cruelty law, Statute Title 7 Part 9 Chapter 739 Sub 4011.1 Paragraph E – depriving an animal of necessary medical attention, Mr. Griffin went on to state that if Royce couldn’t get the animal down to Lincoln, he would have the ACO put it down. Another violation, not only of a Maine at-large animal law, but also against common decency and respect for one of God’s creatures.
    And one further note on that injured animal. If it even reached Lincoln alive, it would probably be dead by injection before the ACO left the parking lot to return to Hodgdon. If PVHS does not strive to adopt healthy animals, ill or injured pets stand absolutely no chance.
    I pointed out to everyone that children who attend the very school we were meeting in have birthday parties for which they ask friends not to bring them presents, but to bring pet food, cat litter, toys, leashes, etc. to be donated to the shelter pets. This is such a beautiful act of selflessness and compassion by our young generation, yet the very town in which they live or go to school has spat on their beyond-years wisdom, generosity and kindness. I asked what kind of message they thought they were sending these children. Mr. Griffin’s response: The kids can still donate leashes if they want.
    That is barbaric pomposity. While Mr. Griffin, the Hodgdon selectmen and budget committee porked up several other articles to get money into interest-bearing escrow accounts, and also approved a $2,000 increase for the ACO, they “didn’t care” (Mr. Griffin’s words on several occasions) it came at the expense of a homeless animal’s life. Or the heartbreak of a missing pet’s owner.
    Sadly, the vote against HHS passed 22-7 due to very poor turn-out for the meeting, which is the norm around all small towns in the area, and which the Hodgdon town government was evidently banking on to get their agenda passed. I’m certain if they had set up a physical poll, alerting the townspeople that this was even coming up for vote, the outcome would be very different.
    Sadly, too, Hodgdon is not the end of this story. If you live in Ludlow, attend your town meeting on April 27th ; the Linneus town meeting is May 4th. Please be there in support of your local Shelter. Please make your voice heard, or your raised hand seen. Your pet could be next, heading to Lincoln and never coming home.
    Let’s not forget animal homelessness is a human-made condition. Humans have the responsibility to make it right. Not kill it outright.
    When the Houlton Humane Society became a No-Kill facility, along with the thousands around the country who proved it works, that death is not an option, and not even a necessity when dedicated, respectful people come together for the life of an animal, this entire area had progressed toward adoption/reclamation instead of death, towards decency and respect for another living creature, toward kindness.
    Unfortunately, last night, the Hodgdon town government regressed, with its eyes wholly on the dollar sign. Shame on them.
Darlene Kenney
Linneus